Side-by-side specifications of the Synology DS916+ and DS918+, from official datasheets. Differences are highlighted.
| DS916+ | DS918+ | |
| CPU | Intel Pentium N3710 | Intel Celeron J3455 |
| Cores / threads | 4/4 | 4-core |
| RAM (base) | 2GB | 4 GB DDR3L |
| RAM (max) | 8GB | 8 GB |
| Drive bays | 4 | 4 |
| Expandable to | 9 | 9 |
| M.2 slots | 0 | 2 |
| Network | 2x 1GbE | 2 x 1GbE |
| 10GbE | no | no |
| Max raw capacity | 56TB | 40 TB |
| Hot-swap | yes | yes |
| Form factor | desktop | desktop |
| Released | 2016 | 2018 |
Choose the DS918+ if you want the newer Intel Celeron CPU, a higher RAM ceiling, and M.2 NVMe cache support; it’s the clearly better long-term buy for most home/SMB use. Both are 4-bay units with one expansion option via Synology’s DX517 and neither has built-in 10GbE, but the DS918+ is the more capable platform overall.